With its trademark showmanship and Pavarotti-like bravado, Apple (AAPL) on Wednesday unveiled its third-generation iPad, a polished and pumped-up tablet that CEO Tim Cook called "the ultimate poster child of the post-PC world."

Coming just two years after Apple revolutionized personal computing with its inaugural tablet and a year after launching its iPad 2, the latest offering is nearly identical to its predecessors in shape and size. But the device boasts dramatically improved screen clarity, more computing muscle, better video and photo-editing software, and the ability to connect to fast 4G LTE networks -- features that will enhance its appeal as an alternative to traditional laptops and desktops.

"The iPad is about post-portable computing," Cook told a gathering of several hundred reporters, bloggers and analysts in San Francisco, "And it's outstripping the wildest of predictions. The momentum behind iPad has been incredible and has surprised virtually everyone."

And, Cook added, "we are just getting started."

The event marked Apple's first major product release since the death last fall of co-founder Steve Jobs, the man who predicted the iPad would one day replace the PC.

The new device, which Cook referred to simply as "the iPad" rather than the iPad 3, goes on sale March 16 and, like the iPad 2, starts at $499. However, the fully loaded model -- with 64 gigabytes of storage and Wi-Fi and 4G capability -- will set you back $829.

Advertisement

"It will be really hard for anyone to top this," said analyst Tim Bajarin with Creative Strategies, whose assessment seemed to express the consensus of analysts on hand. "The software inside is really spectacular. So is the high-quality screen resolution, thanks to Retina display. And the 4G LTE makes this iPad the most effective communications tablet available."

The warmest response from the crowd was for the new iPad's Retina display, which offers crystal-clear images because pixels on the screen are so densely packed that the eye cannot detect individual pixels. But Apple drew plenty of "wows" with upgrades to apps like GarageBand, which now allows several iPad users to simultaneously play virtual instruments and "jam" together over a Wi-Fi connection, essentially recording a complete song in the process.

Cook, repeatedly referring to the iPad as a "post-PC" device, was clearly positioning Apple's latest tablet to dethrone the desktop PC that tethers so many people to the workplace and home office.

After watching the presentation of the new iPhoto app for the iPad, analyst Ross Rubin with NPD Group said the sophistication of that app shows how the iPad is taking on "the kind of tasks that were previously associated with a PC," and illustrates how Apple is adding new functionality to the device "without adding complexity."

Apple executives took a few minutes to also unveil what they called "a new Apple TV" digital set-top box. Priced like its predecessor at $99, the new box includes support for resolutions up to 1080p. It has a new user interface, which will also be available on the existing Apple TV, as well as the ability for the first time to store purchased movies on iCloud, just as Apple customers already can store music and other content. But the improvements were far shy of a blockbuster TV product.

The big news was the iPad. Several analysts said the latest iteration positions Apple further ahead of the competition and puts the Cupertino company at the center of the transformation under way in how people use computers. Tablets are soaring in popularity, with Apple selling more than 15 million iPads in the last quarter of 2011.

"It's not about the hardware," said analyst Van Baker with Gartner. "It's about the applications. And Apple is so far ahead of the others with their ecosystem."

Cook also announced a $100 price cut for the iPad 2, which will sell for $399. Several observers said the price drop could ignite iPad sales to schools, which are clamoring for the tablets in their classrooms but are often discouraged by the relatively high price. And price is a huge factor in Apple's battle with its rivals to capture market share among consumers increasingly attracted to the freedom and versatility a tablet offers.

"Apple just made things a lot harder for the competition," said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, "not just with the new iPad but with the now lower-priced iPad 2. That $399 price point is a big deal, especially for schools, and it will now be impossible for others to compete.''

While many Apple watchers had expected the new iPad to be named the "iPad 3," analyst Bajarin said he thought Apple was sending a message by calling it simply "the iPad."

"With this new iPad, I think Apple's saying this will be the minimum going forward, in terms of features like Retina display and 4G LTE," he said. "The iPad, without a number attached, is essentially the platform for Apple to build upon in the future. So why confuse things by giving it a number?''

Staff writers Jeremy Owens and Troy Wolverton contributed to this report. Contact Patrick May at 408-920-5689 or follow him on Twitter at patmaymerc.